History
Using the same hand tools that were used to build ships, local residents built St. Peter’s in 1883. The first service was held in April 1884 at the original location on Beacon Street, between 2nd and 3rd Street, on what was then Nob Hill. The church was designed in the Carpenter Gothic style of Victorian architecture, and measured only 21 feet by 60 feet. It has 110 hand-hewn pews, plain white walls, and a lectern supported by an angel carved out of redwood. The furnishings and paneling were made of redwood brought from Northern California on sailing vessels. In a profile of the church published in 1968, the Los Angeles Times described the old church as looking "like a dollhouse," but "with the rough-hewn charm of a 19th century ship."
Until approximately 1900, the church was used for both Catholic and Protestant services. Its steeple was lighted at night with a lantern, and from its location on Nob Hill, it served as a beacon for ships approaching the port. In 1904, St. Peter’s was moved to Tenth and Mesa Streets in the Vinegar Hill section of San Pedro. The steeple fell off in the move to Vinegar Hill and was replaced with a belfry the still exists.
Read more about this topic: Old St. Peter's Episcopal Church
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
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“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
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